Securities Lawyers Blog
According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) financial Broker Joshua Nicholas (Nicholas), previously associated with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, has at least 5 disclosable events. These events include one customer complaint, 4 regulatory events, alleging that Nicholas recommended unsuitable investments in different investment products including debt securities among other allegations and complaints.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a final customer complaint on April 24, 2023.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (‘Commission’) deems it appropriate and in the public interest that public administrative proceedings be, and hereby are, instituted pursuant to Section 203(f) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (‘Advisers Act’) against Joshua David Nicholas (‘Nicholas’ or ‘Respondent’). The Commission finds that on April 19, 2023, a final judgment was entered by consent against Nicholas, permanently enjoining him from future violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (‘Securities Act’), and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (‘Exchange Act’) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, in the civil action entitled Securities and Exchange Commission v. Empires Consulting Corp., et al., 1:22-cv-21995-CMA, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The Commission’s complaint alleged that Nicholas and others fraudulently raised at least $40 million of investor funds in EmpiresX investments by falsely claiming that EmpiresX could earn an expected investment return through a proprietary trading ‘bot’ or by manual trading performed by Nicholas. In reality, the bot was fake, Nicholas and others traded only a fraction of the funds they took from investors, and that limited trading failed to earn the purported return. Nicholas and others further lied to investors to provide assurances of the safety of their investment, including by falsely telling investors that EmpiresX had filed SEC registration paperwork. Instead, Nicholas and others misappropriated that investor money for personal uses such as cars, real estate, and travel. The complaint also alleged that Nicholas and others sold unregistered securities. On September 8, 2022, Nicholas pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. \\u00a7 371, 15 U.S.C. \\u00a7\\u00a7 78j(b) and 78ff, and 17 C.F.R. \\u00a7 240.10b-5, before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, in United States v. Joshua David Nicholas, 1:22-cr-20296-JEM. In connection with that plea, Respondent admitted that he conspired with others to commit securities fraud by offering EmpiresX investments through devices, schemes, and artifices to defraud, and materially false statements and omissions. Specifically, Respondent admitted that the purported EmpiresX bot was not real, and that EmpiresX was instead a Ponzi scheme that paid earlier investors with money obtained from later investors. Respondent further admitted that in marketing EmpiresX investments, he misrepresented himself as another individual in order to conceal from investors and potential investors his prior disciplinary history.